The local eSports scene is a bit of a fragmented one – with no real centralised body or organisation, where only the best of the best have any shot of making any cash from their hobby-cum-profession. New local start-up Orena seeks to possibly change that, by organising and hosting tournaments with regular, guaranteed cash and gaming hardware prizes. “The organization was founded with the sole aim of providing the e-sports community with well-run, professionally organized tournaments on a consistent basis,” they say! Let’s find out more.

We had a chat with co-founder Luca Tucconi to find out a little more about Orena – which, as you;’ve probably guessed is an odd portmanteaux of “Online” and “Arena”

How long have you been working on the project?

Orena was announced on March 16th via our Facebook page but the idea has been resonating with me (CEO and Co – Founder) for the past year.

We have spent the last month and a half organising the legal documents and the website, making sure that professionalism, simplicity and the ability to maintain a wide open chain of communication between Orena and the community, are the core functions behind every level of our business model.

What level of professionalism can gamers expect from the organisation?

Only the highest!

We understand that we have just entered the tournament scene and are still getting over our initial “baby steps”, but in time and with the help and patience of the community, we look to provide you with a professional, consistent and highly rewarding tournament platform. This platform has one goal in mind, to assist South African gamers to reach the level of professionalism we have all come to dream of, becoming a paid professional e-Sportsman.

How exactly does the system work?

Orena’s Website Designer and Co-Founder Christopher Breedt, worked some kind of miracle over the past month and gave us the site you are able see today. Together with Tucconi who understands the basic needs of a competitive tournament and the hope that the community would supply us with the critique to refine our system, we would have a final product that fit their exact desires.

The Registration system has been designed for maximum simplicity. Our payment system will develop as time passes and we attain support in the aim of improving Orena’s entire infrastructure.

To register for our tournaments, you would follow a few simple steps:

1. Register Basic Captain and General Details on the registration page for each tournament.

2. Complete the Team registration on the following page.

3. Deposit Registration fees via EFT with the bank details provided, use “Order Details” provided in registration page as the EFT Reference when making payment.

4. Once Payment has shown in the account a confirmation email will be sent to you with the final event information.

5. Get warmed up for the Orena…

6. Play and Win!

Most importantly, our current system is based on a cash pot, similar to some successful events that have been run in the past. The more teams we have entered into our tournaments, the higher the prize pot becomes for teams ranging from 1st to 7th place. So get entering and spread the news!

Orena has also been in communication with some very interested parties, who are looking to get involved in the form of prizes and infrastructure support. We will keep the community up to date on any changes in the Entry Criteria and Prizes for our tournaments.

Is Orena just a casual organisation launched by friends or a registered business?

Orena is in the process of becoming a registered business. By the end of the week we will have all the outstanding legal infrastructure finalised.

Is Orena for hardcore gamers only, or is there space for more casual gamers as well?

Orena looks to supply every gamer with a platform to test their skills, as we have stated, the main goal is to grow South African e-Sports to the level we have come to see on an international front. The only way to do this is to inform the uninformed and help them see the attractive side to this exciting new profession.

Will you be running tournaments for other game titles in the future? If so, which titles?

We will most definitely be supporting more titles. Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Quake Live, FIFA, Battlefield and many other titles come to mind, not forgetting our future support of the more popular console titles.

Why should gamers support and compete in Orena tournaments?

The Orena brand shares empathy towards the situation South Africa e-Sports finds itself in today. Gamers hunger for the motivation to play in a tournament which gets hosted on a consistent and regular basis, with substantial rewards on offer. We look to offer exactly that.

Orena values the community’s opinion to the highest regard as we are competitive gamer’s ourselves, who hunger and have hungered for a similar opportunity for a number of years… We now look to supply what we never compete for ourselves.

The dream of seeing South African faces on the international front, we believe, is not too far away.

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In this article

I'm old, grumpy and more than just a little cynical. One day, I found myself in possession of a NES, and a copy of Super Mario Bros 3. It was that game that made me realise that games were more than just toys to idly while away time - they were capable of being masterpieces.
I'm here now, looking for more of those masterpieces.
I am also the emperor of the backend

Join the Conversation

Ultimo_Cleric N7

Well this sounds interesting, about time SA came out of the gaming Stone Age. If anyone needs an above-average Protoss player for SC2, let me know

Dylan Heunis

In what league are you? If you want I can refer you to my clan, who always loves to add more people to their SC2 division.

Ultimo_Cleric N7

Only Silver (Currently no. 14 in my ladder) But I only started playing online about a 1,5 months ago. Still learning…..and looking for a clan

Dylan Heunis

There’s no better place to improve than in a clan with tons of people to help you out. Drop me your email and I’ll send you TS details so you can come hang.

Great stuff. Glad to see people taking some initiative to bring the competitive scene up to scratch

http://twitter.com/mbube Voter

“The local eSports scene is a bit of a fragmented one – with no real centralised body or organisation, where only the best of the best have any shot of making any cash from their hobby-cum-profession. New local start-up Orena seeks to possibly change that, by organising and hosting tournaments with regular, guaranteed cash and gaming hardware prizes.”

I think I have read this line at least 10 times before.

Dylan Heunis

Professional sports only allows for their best competitors to compete for a living wage anyway, so why not just leave it at that with casual gaming? I do enjoy playing competitively, but bringing money into the whole ordeal will take a lot of fun out of competing for many players. People with unstable emotional states come into mind.

http://twitter.com/number473 number473

The entry price is cheaper than some movie tickets – cheap enough that a casual-ish gamer could see the cost as simple a fee to have some fun and competition.
And people with unstable emotional stated (whatever that is) have trouble anyway.

Dylan Heunis

Fair enough. Yet there are other leagues already such as the DGL that caters to this sort of thing and doesn’t even cost a penny to compete in. MSSA also holds championships regularly (the most recent one being the Mpumalanga provincial championships). Through MSSA you can achieve Protea colours as well. Oh wait, you have to pay membership for that… And unstable emotional “stated” (as you spelled it) has a meaning. It simply means that there are some people who succumb to rage when they compete online. Anyone can have this, but it affects online gamers the most.